Fund in talks to buy family-owned bus firm

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet

The owners of Turkish bus company Kamil Koç have launched talks with private investment fund Actera over the sale of 100 percent of its stakes. DHA photo

The owners of Turkish bus company Kamil Koç have launched talks with private investment fund Actera over the sale of 100 percent of the company’s stakes.

“An important step has been taken in sales negotiations,” Kamil Koç Board Member Sema Gülmez told daily Hürriyet.

Kamil Koç, a family-owned company, carries 12 million passengers every year with 750 buses. The carrier earned 329.8 million Turkish Liras in revenue in 2011, according to data shared on its website.

“Regulations challenged us a lot, as did unjust competition,” Gülmez said in explaining the reasons for the decision. “For integrated transportation, a more powerful capital structure was needed,” she added.

“We wanted to do our business cleanly and honestly, but we’re tired. It’s not easy to keep family businesses alive,” Gülmez said, adding that all the family members felt at ease with Actera, who the company is in talks with.

Actera is a big equity firm focused on Turkey with $1.6 billion under its management. The group owns 50 percent of ground services company Çelebi Aviation Holding through its Netherlands-based subsidiary, Zeus Aviation Services Investments, which it founded to acquire stakes in Çelebi.

The equity firm used to own Mey İçki, the dominant producer in the domestic rakı market, together with U.S.-based private equity firm TPG Capital, but sold it to global alcoholic drink giant Diageo in 2011.

It currently has investments in Mars entertainment group, which operates Turkey’s largest cinema chain; Turkey’s largest food and non-food product suppliers to enterprises, and others.